Kingdom of Glass
by MementoMori115
Summary: Not all roads are easy, but every road is worth travel. For who knows what you shall find in doing such? But forget not where your journey began.


"I swear to Me that I _will_ beat author-san senseless one of these days. Here we have the brainchild of binging another New Game+ of FFXV, and binging Grand Order for the umpteenth time. Ideally, he would have liked to add more to this before posting it for you all to read, but I'm just gonna go behind his back and release it early. Be sure to bash this in your reviews so he doesn't continue this story."

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The scorching sun was beating down upon the region of Leide, and no matter how much time passed, Noctis swore that the damn ball of fire wasn't moving from its apex. Though he liked the black garb standard of Insomnia, he had to admit that the dark clothes did little in the way of reflecting heat. With each passing moment it felt as if the temperature was continuing to rise without any sign of stopping. If the circumstances were more favorable, he and his friends would remain inside the Regalia with the hood up and the AC blasting. However fate was not so kind.

Out of gas, broken down, and miles from the nearest station, their only real option at the moment was to suffer in silence with the occasional curse being shouted.

A car sped past them without even slowing down to consider helping.

'_Son of a...'_

"Well, looks like we ain't getting any help at this rate." Gladio remarked as he watched the car he tried to hail disappear into the distance. "Thought people were friendly outside the city." he added as he leaned against the side of the Regalia, only to quickly recoil from the heat it radiated.

"You can only make it so far on the kindness of strangers." Ignis grumbled as he leaned on the steering wheel in the drivers seat.

Gladio let out a huff of annoyance. "Guess we'll just have to push it the rest of the way."

"Seriously?" Prompto asked weakly. "I'm already pushing myself to the brink of death in this heat... Can't we wait for help to come? I mean, he probably made it to Hammerhead by now. I'm sure the tow truck will come driving down the road any minute now."

"More like he took off so he wouldn't have to push this thing himself." Noctis huffed as he stood back up.

"Quit your whining." Gladio said as he nudged Prompto with his foot. "Get up and help. The sooner we do this, the sooner we'll get there."

The blonde let out a quiet whimper. "Fine, but if we run into him on the side of the road and he's just cooling off in the shade, I say we leave him behind."

"Doesn't seem like the kind of thing he would do." the big guy responded. "Now let's get this thing moving already."

Everyone got into position and braced themselves for the arduous task of pushing their car down the road again.

"Alright; one, two, three!" Noctis yelled as they began to move the heavy machine.

Slowly.

In the unbearable heat.

Without help.

"My lungs are on fire!" Prompto shouted as the car rolled down the road.

"Less complaining, more pushing!" grunted Gladio.

"Can't believe this happened already!"

"Think it's some kind of bad omen?"

"Gladio... do me a favor, push this by yourself!"

"Ignis! Switch with me!"

"We just switched five minutes ago! Besides, it's my turn next!" shouted Gladio.

"Hammerhead looked so close on the map..."

"Most things do from a world view." Ignis remarked as he kept the car steering straight.

"I would give anything for a nice cold glass of water right now." Prompto grumbled as he nearly stumbled and fell.

"I'd prefer a nice soft bed in an ice box." Noctis responded.

After another ten minutes of pushing, the guys were reaching their limit. Several more cars had passed by in the interim, none of which even hesitating to stop and help them.

But finally, as if by some miracle from a god, another vehicle appeared in the distance. However it was coming from the opposite direction.

"Think we should try to flag them down?" asked Prompto.

"Don't waste your breath." Noctis responded. "They'll just speed past us like all the rest."

But as it grew closer they noticed it wasn't just another car, but a tow truck.

"Oh sweet merciful god!" Prompto exclaimed as the truck slowed to a halt next to them.

Coming to a full stop, the four friends were able to get a look at their savior. A slender woman with short, curly blonde hair and green eyes. A red cap with a logo and the word 'HAMMERHEAD' sat atop her slightly messy hair. She wore a cropped yellow jacket that exposed her midriff and was zipped only a few inches below her breasts, revealing an orange bikini top. Their were faint traces of grease and dirt on her face and clothes, but to the guys she looked almost like an angelic savior.

"Howdy there boys! Looks like y'all could use a lift!" she said with a bright smile.

"... Are you an angel?" Prompto asked as he collapsed into the car from exhaustion.

"Angel or no, it seems our prayers for aid have been answered." Ignis remarked as he leaned back in his seat.

The blonde woman nodded as she climbed out of the truck. "Yep! But if I was you, I'd be giving my thanks to your buddy over here!" she replied as she jabbed her thumb over her shoulder, towards the trucks passenger. "Durn fool came running up to the garage going full speed!"

Peeking over the blonde's shoulder, the group of four spotted their friend who had left for help earlier.

"Hey guys." he said, somewhat winded and still covered in sweat.

"I knew we could count on you for help!" Prompto cheered as he weakly raised a fist.

"Never doubted him for a second." added Noctis.

"I seem to recall you saying otherwise not ten minutes ago." Ignis pointed out.

Climbing out the passenger side of the tow truck was another male. He was just barely shorter than Ignis and while not as muscular as Gladio, he was still well built. His short hair was a particular shade of rusty-red, only interrupted by a couple streaks of white above his left eye. The red t-shirt he wore was nearly glued to his chest with sweat, but his black jacket was nowhere to be seen. And while not overly tan, his skin was a noticeable shade darker than the rest of the guys.

"Hope you weren't waiting on me for too long." the male responded with a weak smile.

"Just glad that you came back at all Shirou." remarked Ignis as he wiped the sweat from his glasses.

A few minutes later the Regalia was strapped on to the back of the tow truck and everyone was headed for Hammerhead. Shirou remained in the passenger seat of the truck with the blonde woman, whose name they learned was Cindy, while the rest of them lazed in the Regalia and enjoyed the breeze that was hitting them.

"How you boys doing back there?" Cindy called back.

"Tired..." groaned Noctis.

"I never thought the wind could feel so nice..." Prompto said weakly as he lay over the back seat.

The blonde girl let out a chuckle. "Sounds like y'all could use a good rest and somethin' to drink. Good thing we got a restaurant next to the garage."

"Yaaaayyy..." Prompto cheered quietly as he pumped his fist slowly.

"Guess I didn't catch the Prince and his Royal retinue at the best of times." Cindy mused as she glanced at the guys through her rear-view mirror.

"That's one way of putting it." responded Shirou.

"But man, sure's unlucky of you boys to break down after having just left the city."

"If it was just a simple case of a maintenance problem, then it wouldn't have been a problem for us. I could've gotten the Regalia going again no problem." Shirou added as he leaned back in his seat.

"Oh? You fancy yourself handy with a wrench?" Cindy asked with intrigue.

He shrugged. "More or less. If it weren't for the busted fuel gauge, we could've been back on the road in no time."

"Ya' think this might be some kinda' bad omen?"

"Already suggested that!" Gladio called out from the back.

"I prefer to blame it on Shirou's Rank- E luck..." muttered Noctis.

Cindy's head tilted in confusion. "Your what now?"

The red-head gave a dismissive wave of his hand. "An old in-joke. Basically; if I was to be given stats like an RPG character, my Luck would be the lowest."

The blonde chuckled in amusement. "I guess that's why you drew the short straw for hoofing it to the shop?"

"Volunteered, actually." Ignis provided in answer.

"Shirou's a bit crazy like that..." Prompto added.

"I prefer to say it was 'showing initiative'."

"That's just a fancy way of saying you're a glutton for punishment." was Noctis' snide response.

"Or would you have preferred I just remained at Hammerhead and let you guys push it _all_ the way?"

"... You're a valued member of the team and we couldn't have made it this far without you."

"Which in hindsight, wasn't very far at all..." the blonde of the group felt it necessary to add.

Cindy began to laugh once more at the groups antics, with Shirou joining in with a chuckle of his own.

**(-)**

"Bah, you'd think Reggie would make sure the old gal was up to snuff before he sent ya' off in her." remarked the somewhat surly mechanic of Hammerhead. He was a grey-haired old man by the name of Cid, who happened to be good friends with King Regis from when they were younger.

"Think you can fix her up?" asked Noctis. "We got a schedule to keep."

"Looks like someone's eager to see his lovely lady~." teased Prompto. "'O Luna, it has been so long since we were tragically torn apart! Now after all these years we can finally be married!'" he spoke in a poor imitation of Noctis' voice.

The prince swung at his vertically challenged friend, but was met with nothing but air as he jumped away. "Keep it up Prompto, and you'll have to sleep with one eye open if you care about the safety of your camera."

The blonde gasped. "Ahh! You wouldn't dare!"

"If you continue your teasing, you'll eventually find out." Ignis opined as he wiped the sweat from his glasses.

"Anyway." Cid spoke loudly as he grabbed the groups attention once more. "I can fix her alright. Just need a new part to replace the broken one. I'm all out right now, but a new shipment should arrive by tomorrow."

"So we're stuck here for the time being?" asked Gladio.

"That seems to be the case boys." answered Cindy. "Paw paw and I should be finished with the repairs sometime tomorrow afternoon, so ya' might as well get comfortable for the time being."

"Aww man... It's so hot out here." whined Prompto. "Why couldn't we breakdown somewhere with a pool?"

"Because that would be far too convenient." responded Shirou.

"Quit your griping." Gladio huffed in amusement. "We might as well try to be productive in some way."

"Well if you boys is looking for something to do, I think I have a job for ya'." Cindy remarked as she rummaged through her toolbox. "There's this Hunter somewhere nearby, fellow by the name of Dave. He showed up to deal with some of the local varmints, but hasn't reported back in awhile. Think ya' can try to find him? It'd be real bad if something happened to him."

After agreeing to find the missing Hunter, as well as making a brief stop at the local store, the group of five began their search for Dave. It didn't take long for them to find the man, as he was taking cover in an old shack after he had been injured by the local wildlife he was tasked with hunting. Once they helped him back to his feet, he made his way back towards Hammerhead while the five of them went to finish the job that Dave had started.

"Whoo! Now that the sun's going down, things are finally starting to cool off!" Prompto remarked before collapsing on his back. "But I am exhausted!"

Gladio gave the blonde a light kick in the side as he stood over him. "Not too exhausted to help setup camp, right? Otherwise no food for you."

"You're heartless!"

"Only to you shorty." the large man replied. "Hey Shirou! You almost done with that?" he called out to their resident jack-of-all-trades.

Shirou was in the process of cutting off the more useful bits of the sabertusk corpses left in their wake. Selling them for a little extra gil was worth the small amount of effort required.

Slicing off the last tusk, something that would make for a nice decorative dagger in Shirou's opinion, the red-head allowed the knife he was using to vanish into motes of light. "Just did."

The muscle of the group let out a huff of amusement. "Good, 'cause Iggy is getting impatient waiting for you."

"Far from it." said man responded as he started to put together their mobile kitchen. "I am simply making the best use of my time."

With the both of them being expert chefs, Ignis and Shirou had developed a sort of rivalry when it came to the culinary arts. And while under most circumstances such a saying wouldn't apply to them, for two masters of their craft it ended up being a case of too many cooks in one kitchen. So prior to every meal that they cooked, they would flip a coin to determine who took charge.

"I'll let Ignis have the honors this time. I'm sure he could use this as a way to mellow out after the whole debacle with the Regalia."

"And what makes you think I need to 'mellow out'?"

"Your hand is already twitching towards your recipe book in your jacket pocket."

The bespectacled man let out a small cough as he forced his hand to still. "I have no idea what you are talking about."

"Sure you don't." Noctis responded dryly.


End file.
